And I've been hearing that the Royals are going to be a threat going on 10 years now. I'll believe it when I see it.

Yeah, that's the point, people have been proclaiming all the talent in the Royals farm system would bring them back to the glory days and so far all that talent has produced absolutely squat. They've finally wised up and started hedging their often overvalued prospects for actual Major League talent.